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The digital age and memory loss..

King sns

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I wonder if this era is going to create a new era of people who can't remember anything because we're having a decreasing need to retain information. Spellings, names(from facebook etc.), childhood memories, (the sudden uprising of pictures of EVERYTHING to process and reminisce the very second the memory occurs)- and of course general information.

What do you think?
I think that this ability could also create some positive traits as well.
 

93JC

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I've heard the theory that "spell check" would make us forget how to spell correctly and to a certain extent my own experience with other people has confirmed this. I think younger people really are becoming more ignorant spellers because so much of their day-to-day writing is done on computers that will correct their spelling automatically.

As far as general information goes I think the complete opposite is happening. It's so much easier to find information using today's technology than it was "back in the day". On one hand people are becoming less and less aware of how to use the Dewey decimal system, but on the other hand, is that so bad? We're moving beyond having to visit large, expensive repositories of books and digging through a filing system just to find the book we want, which may not even be the book we need. I think information developed today will become immeasurably easier to reference decades from now than information from, say, the 1940s was referenced in the 1980s.

If anything I think technology will make childhood memories easier to remember, because photographs are so much easier to take and process with a digital camera. And to reference these pictures requires a simple search on a hard drive, compared to wading through albums.


I do think we will lose the knowledge about older technologies. People won't know how to use older pieces of technology. I think we'll get to the point that the vast majority of people don't know how to play a record on a record player, to adjust the choke on a carburetor, and even things like floppy disks will be unknown to the kids growing up these days. I think an unprecedented amount of knowledge about technology will be forgotten because people won't care to remember them, whereas even though technology was rapidly progressing in the 20th century most people still knew how to use older pieces of technology.

E.g. someone born in the 1930s would grow up with records, learn to play 8-tracks, cassettes and CDs, but would still retain the knowledge of how to play a record. A kid born in 2000 has probably seen a cassette and a 12" LP, probably knows that they're used to play music, but probably doesn't know how to use them. His or her kids, kids born 10-20 years from now, probably won't know a thing about 8-track tapes at all.

It goes back to the Dewey decimal system. I have a vague recollection of the ins and outs we were taught in elementary school. My kids, if I have any, won't know what it is at all.


I don't think the proliferation of technology would make us forget things, simply filing information away digitally rather than having to recall it from memory. It's not as though the human race itself will lose the ability to retain memories. If anything technology will help us retain that information because we'll have easier ways of filing it away, rather than losing it naturally over the course of time.
 

entropie

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I wonder if this era is going to create a new era of people who can't remember anything because we're having a decreasing need to retain information. Spellings, names(from facebook etc.), childhood memories, (the sudden uprising of pictures of EVERYTHING to process and reminisce the very second the memory occurs)- and of course general information.

What do you think?
I think that this ability could also create some positive traits as well.

If one makes oneself a bitch of the ages, probably
 

JocktheMotie

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I agree with the OP. When the written word gained steam, a lot of the memory techniques of the greeks or other great orators were lost for a while simply because one didn't need the "memory palace" when you could just write things down. The internet is a similar advancement in where to log cultural knowledge, so as one could "outsource" knowledge to books previously, wikipedia and Google represent a similar system. Information is now essentially available instantaneously with a google search.
 

Halla74

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I wonder if this era is going to create a new era of people who can't remember anything because we're having a decreasing need to retain information. Spellings, names(from facebook etc.), childhood memories, (the sudden uprising of pictures of EVERYTHING to process and reminisce the very second the memory occurs)- and of course general information.

What do you think?
I think that this ability could also create some positive traits as well.

I encourage anyone who chooses to give into electronic idiocy.
Each time someone takes the bait, that's one less person my kids will have to compete for good jobs with when they're older.

:newwink:

-Alex
 

King sns

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I encourage anyone who chooses to give into electronic idiocy.
Each time someone takes the bait, that's one less person my kids will have to compete for good jobs with when they're older.

:newwink:

-Alex

I'm not even talking about giving into it. Seems like it could be something that happens naturally over time.
 

Quinlan

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I don't think the unused brainpower goes away, we'd use it for other things like understanding how to use the technology we're outsourcing our memory storage to.

Basically I'm always concious of the fact that people will ALWAYS think things were better in their day and that the end of civilisation is just round the corner.
 

King sns

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I don't think the unused brainpower goes away, we'd use it for other things like understanding how to use the technology we're outsourcing our memory storage to.

I agree. Almost like we can use the newly freed up space to do something else, moving forward quickly, skipping a lot of background stuff-not having to do as much legwork. I truly think that over the next couple of generations we're going to have people thinking almost unrecognizably from say, 2 generations ago.
 

INTP

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Actually it has been studied a bit and it seems that googling everything that you cant remember in sec does make your memory worse. and quite many people are even using google for not being able to remember some word..
 
A

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I lost about a megabyte viewing this page. Seriously, you know what they say, "use it or lose it." Just think of the infinite well of information we draw from everyday on this web o' knowledge and wonder. I'm guessing for every neuron or dendrite we sacrifice to the Spell Check God, Uncle Murphy gives us back something old, something new; maybe a regift. Nonetheless, it feels like new information is taking its place; possibly even exciting, like Victor's philosophies on slavery.
 

Halla74

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I'm not even talking about giving into it. Seems like it could be something that happens naturally over time.

In my opinion, it is a matter of choice, it's a matter of focus.
People can choose how intently and how intensely they wish to learn and apply themselves.
If someone wants to write like a sloppy pig in their e-mails and text messages, they will do so.
I do not.
My e-mails and text messages are crystal clear, I use proper grammar, and I capitalize letters where appropriate.
I can't stand when people type in all lower case, for some reason it makes me think they believe they are a descendent of Emily Dickinson.

So far as people not remembering things because they can look it up on thier smart phone.
I offer the following.
You have one chance in this life to make a first impression with each new person you meet.
If you come across as a spacy person who needs to have their smart phone with them to look up things all the time, it will come across as "Linus needing his blanket" in the "Peanuts" comics.
I have a staff person who is a Millenial.
During meetings they are constantly on their smart phone texting people, and looking at Google Maps.
Whenever I see it I call on her openly and ask them a question, and they can't answer it, and they look like a fool.
It's not professional to be jockeying on your smart phone during a professional meeting.
You should be taking notes and be an active participant in the conversation so that you are adding value to the meeting.
If you're not going to do that, then don't show up, and don't come back to work tomorrow, quite frankly.

Also, I can't tell you how many dumbass young kids I see texting while walkling through a grocery store parking lot. :wtf:
That's a great way to have a minivan back right over you, not smart. :doh:
Put your fucking phone away and pay attention to your environment you zombie.

It is every person's duty to themselves to have as much relevant knowledge at their immediate cognitive disposal that is needed to accomplish their purpose in life.
If you think that you can just find all the answers in your electronic gadgets as life flies by, you are gravely mistaken.
The real world demands leadership, and leaders are the people who CAN and WILL do WHAT is needed with WHAT they have to work with WHEN it needs to be done.
Thinking on your feet, on the fly is not easy to do effectively if your brain is a vacuum.
To those who think they can text their way through life, they should be concerned that they will be accepting the status quo, and year after year the status quo is getting less and less desirable.

So, in other words, I am not a fan of laziness, ignorance or stupidity.
I've had to clean up t he messes of lazy, ignorant and stupid people in my career far too many times.
People with such an attitude have no chance to advance in the trenches of the modern professional workplace.

Each of us can choose to be our best, or to be a mediocre slob.
I chose the path of excellence long ago, and I have never looked back or regretted it.

Just my .02. :coffee:

:solidarity:

-Alex
 

FDG

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I haven't noticed such a thing happening.

Besides, brain structure doesn't evolve that quickly. We are the same species we were 100 years ago, it'd take a lot of time for internet to make everyone dumber, if that is going to be the case.
 

Wanderer

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Also, I can't tell you how many dumbass young kids I see texting while walkling through a grocery store parking lot. :wtf:
That's a great way to have a minivan back right over you, not smart. :doh:
Put your fucking phone away and pay attention to your environment you zombie.
-Alex

A few years ago in my neck of the woods, a teenage girl driving her dad's SUV ran over a toddler - in a subdivision, and she was only doing 25.
Because she was texting on her smart phone.

I haven't noticed such a thing happening.

Besides, brain structure doesn't evolve that quickly. We are the same species we were 100 years ago, it'd take a lot of time for internet to make everyone dumber, if that is going to be the case.

Has nothing to do with brain structure, and everything to do with TRAINING.
The brain is similar to a muscle - if you do not use it, it will atrophy. If you never develop it, you will seem ignorant and dull-witted.

In prior years, if you wanted to learn something you had to go research it. Reading, actively attempting to comprehend the subject matter. Now, you google and find a wikipedia article or a wikihow. While this is enormously helpful, it's become a crutch, I think.

If you wanted to call someone, you had to be able to remember their number - a pay phone didn't have a contacts list. You had to be able to *remember* things without the help of a smartphone.

If you wanted to have a get together with friends - it had to be PLANNED.
My parents commented on this to me once, that my generation doesn't bother planning things out in detail. I know this is true because I don't have a cellphone, so I *must* plan things in advance. Where I will be, when I will be there, and a fallback for if I'm not there, where I would be instead and why. Something my peers don't usually worry about - cellphones make it easy to plan on the fly. This makes adaptability easier, but it removes an aspect of responsibility and forethought.

There are wonderful things about the digital age, but it's weakening us.
 

SilkRoad

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I'm not sure about memory, but sometimes I think my attention span is shot due to too much internet, texting, etc etc etc.

I know all the technological connections have done something to my brain and I'm not sure it's good. Although I started using the internet at 16, so it's hard to say if the changes I notice in myself are more to do with aging and different experiences than mainly with technology.
 

FDG

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Of course it has everything to do with training. So, the digital age hasn't changed our ability to memorize something (innate ability). So, we don't need to worry about the digital age, we need to worry about keeping our mind sharp, since its structure cannot change that quickly.

Moreoever, consider how in the past MUCH information was absolutely not available to everyone. You act like anyone could easily reserach any topic, but it's not true. If someone quickly skims 10000 wikipedia articles a day, that's his problem - he could equally have skimmed 20000 books in a library, and the end result would have been superficial knowledge. You can read and understand deeply only 5 wiki articles a day, we have free choice on the matter.
50 years ago, a boy that didn't come from a rich family wouldn't have been able to access that much information, and would have likely become very ignorant.

Furthermore, I wouldn't really listen older people commenting on something having to do with a "newer" generation. They're usually biased and cantankerous opinions.
 

entropie

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Nowadays people are killed by smartphone back then it was cattle. I wouldnt go so far to tell people have become any more dumber thru the interwebz
 

William K

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I think times change and people adapt, some more than the others and there will always be the grumblers. It does present a challenge to the educators as they have to find a way to integrate these new technologies and devices into class. Read an article recently about whether it was still necessary to teach students to write in cursive. And of course in Maths, the slide rule and logarithmic book would be disappearing from classrooms.

I do have a personal rant though. Anyone else find Google's autocompletion creepy? It's like it can read my mind *shudder*... And of course as a person who regularly mistypes, it can be embarrassing when you accidentally try to search for public but leave out the l and the results being shown as you are typoing isn't what you expected
 

Such Irony

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I'm surprised at how many customers I serve at work do not know their phone number by heart. They have to look it up on their cell phone. When I was in school, we were taught to memorize our phone number at a young age and not knowing your own phone number once you're school age was almost unheard of. This was before cell phones were so commonplace.

Actually, it's not just the kids who don't know their phone number these days. Alot of adults don't bother to try to memorize it either. Yes, you can quickly look it up but if you just took the short amount of time to commit it to memory, you would probably save time from not having to look it up each time you want it.
 

entropie

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I'm surprised at how many customers I serve at work do not know their phone number by heart. They have to look it up on their cell phone. When I was in school, we were taught to memorize our phone number at a young age and not knowing your own phone number once you're school age was almost unheard of. This was before cell phones were so commonplace.

Actually, it's not just the kids who don't know their phone number these days. Alot of adults don't bother to try to memorize it either. Yes, you can quickly look it up but if you just took the short amount of time to commit it to memory, you would probably save time from not having to look it up each time you want it.

You know when I was a kid, I did know my phone number any day. But if you have a busy work schedule, have to run a household and must memorize two billion things a day as an adult; I dont think its a problem if you forget something unimportant like your phone number.
 
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